Editor's Note: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 8 updated it weekly surveillance summary of COVID-19 activity in the US for week 18. Among the updates: The percentage of specimens testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 decreased at public health, commercial, and clinical laboratories. Labs have confirmed 832,238 positive…

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Editor's Note Researchers at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Mass General Brigham, announced May 5 their progress towards the testing and development of an experimental vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 called AAVCOVID. The vaccine is currently in preclinical development with a plan to begin clinical testing in humans…

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Editor's Note A new study from researchers in Hong Kong finds that the MAIL2.0 nowcast artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, which was developed with concepts used in economics and meteorology, yields a high level of accuracy for identifying COVID-19 in chest x-rays, the May 5 AuntMinny.com reports. The algorithm yielded 84.7%…

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Editor's Note This study from Stanford University tests five methods for disinfecting N95 masks and finds that heating them preserves their filtration efficiency for 50 cycles of disinfection. In the study, instead of analyzing N95 masks, which were needed by healthcare workers, the researchers examined pieces of the fabric used…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on May 6 issued a guidance to implement section 3121 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) as it relates to shortages and potential shortages of medical devices occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Manufacturers are required to notify…

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Editor's Note Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago are using artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite the search for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines by shortening the expert review period. The AI tool prioritizes research that has the most potential to produce real solutions and ignores research that is unlikely to yield…

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Editor's Note The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on May 1 announced that it will begin the distribution of payments from the Provider Relief Fund to hospitals with large numbers of COVID-19 admissions and to rural providers. Payments of $12 billion will go to 395 hospitals with at…

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Editor's Note Cornell University researchers studying the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have found a unique feature that could explain why it is so transmissible between humans. The researchers identified a structural loop in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (ie, the area of the virus that facilitates entry into a cell)…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 1 announced the launch of the “SARS-CoV-2 Sequencing for Public Health Emergency Response, Epidemiology and Surveillance (SPHERES)” consortium. This network of laboratories will speed the release of SARS-CoV-2 sequence data into the public domain for use by public…

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Editor's Note This year, the American Nurses Association has extended the traditional National Nurses Week to a month of recognition, May 1-31. National Nurses Day, May 6, marks the beginning of National Nurses Week, which ends on May 12, the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday. This year’s theme is “Nurses…

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